Essential Texts in Chinese Medicine: The Single Idea in the Mind of the Yellow Emperor

322 Pages·2014·13 MB·English

by  Richard Bertschinger

Foreword by Allen Parrott
RICHARD BERTSCHINGER
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S ESSENTIAL TEXTS
This selection of the key texts on Chinese medicine, taken from the Huangdi Neijing(the
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Yellow Emperor’s Medical Classic), provides the passages vital for students and practitioners
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to understand and work with in their practice today.
Essential Texts in Chinese Medicine
The Chinese text is given, with a new translation, supported by a commentary that explains
T in Chinese Medicine
the meaning and importance of the lines and their core relevance to modern practice. Ming
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doctor and scholar Li Zhongzi’s selection is taken as a basis, and additional texts from the
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Huangdi Neijingon topics relevant for modern p ractitioners, such as the spirit in treatment, a
resonance with nature, the art of needling, and the Five Elemental body and personality types, L The Single Idea in the Mind of the Yellow Emperor
are included.
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‘This book is a mentor, gently holding students’ hands, and the content is practice orientated. CE
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The introduction section alone accelerated my learning by years and the accurate and insightful X
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translation of the key words illuminates some of the crucial background of Chinese thinking.’
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– Cheng-Hao Zhou, BM(TCM, China) MRCHM MBAcC, Lecturer R
and Year Leader, Northern College of Acupuncture, York, UK DS
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‘“Gather wood without the forester and you will soon become lost in the forest,” a dvises the EN
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Yijing. Bertschinger is a consummate guide through the forest of China’s earliest medical
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writings. This insightful and beautifully wrought commentary on the Yellow Emperor’s Classic C
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is essential reading for the beginning, middle and end of your studies.’ CH
– Charles Buck, Chairman of the British Acupuncture Council and author H
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of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine: Roots of Modern Practice I
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Richard Bertschingerstudied for many years with the Taoist Master, Gia-fu Feng. He is an E
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acupuncturist, teacher of the healing arts, translator of ancient Chinese texts, and author of
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The Great Intent: Acupuncture Odes, Songs and Rhymes, The Secret of Everlasting Life, Yijing,

Shamanic Oracle of Chinaand Everyday Qigong Practice, also published by Singing Dragon. M
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D
I
C
I
N
E

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.singingdragon.com
Cover design: Black Dog Design

Essential Texts in Chinese Medicine
by the same author
The Great Intent
Acupuncture Odes, Songs and Rhymes
Richard Bertschinger
ISBN 978 1 84819 132 7
eISBN 978 0 85701 111 4
Everyday Qigong Practice
Richard Bertschinger
ISBN 978 1 84819 117 4
eISBN 978 0 85701 097 1
Yijing, Shamanic Oracle of China
A New Book of Change
Translated by Richard Bertschinger
ISBN 978 1 84819 083 2
eISBN 978 0 85701 066 7
The Secret of Everlasting Life
The First Translation of the Ancient Chinese Text on Immortality
Richard Bertschinger
ISBN 978 1 84819 048 1
eISBN 978 0 85701 054 4
RICHARD BERTSCHINGER
ESSENTIAL TEXTS
in Chinese Medicine
The Single Idea in the Mind of the Yellow Emperor
FOREWORD BY ALLEN PARROTT
LONDON AND PHILADELPHIA
First published in 2015
by Singing Dragon
an imprint of Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www. singingdragon. com
Copyright © Richard Bertschinger 2015
Foreword copyright © Allen Parrott 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material
form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and
whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication)
without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the
provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a
licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby
Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission
to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work
may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bertschinger, Richard, author.
Essential texts in Chinese medicine : the single idea in
the mind of the Yellow Emperor / Richard
Bertschinger.
p. ; cm.
Translation of and commentary on the Nei jing zhi yao of
Ming doctor and scholar Li Zhongzi, alongside
the original Chinese, with a number of additional texts from the Huang di nei jing.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-84819-162-4 (alk. paper)
I. Li, Zhongzi, 1588-1655. Nei jing zhi yao. II. Li, Zhongzi,
1588-1655. Nei jing zhi yao. English III. Huangdi
nei jing. Selections. IV. Huangdi nei jing. English Selections. V. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Huangdi nei jing. 2. Medicine, Chinese
Traditional--history. 3. Medicine, Chinese
Traditional--methods. 4. Manuscripts, Medical--history. WZ 294]
R127. 1
610. 951--dc23
2014021760
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84819 162 4
eISBN 978 0 85701 135 0
Printed and bound in Great Britain
At the stillpoint of the turning world…
Gia-fu Feng
The Tao gave birth to One,
One gives birth to two,
Two gives birth to three,
Three gives birth to the ten thousand things.
The ten thousand things all bear Yin on their backs
And embrace the Yang,
Infused with a single breath they form an easy harmony.
Laozi, Chapter 42

CONTENTS
Foreword by Allen Parrott. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
A NOTE ON THE TEXT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1. The History of the Yellow Emperor’s Medical Classic. . . . . . 16
2. Philosophical Roots in the Neijing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3. Yinyang and Wuxing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4. Li Zhongzi, His Compilation and the Quietly Enquiring Mind 31
5. A World Refracted through Chinese Language. . . . . . . . . 38
6. Claude Levi-Strauss and the Untamed Mind . . . . . . . . . 42
7. A Logic of Tangible Qualities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
8. Conclusion: A Divide in Medical Thinking. . . . . . . . . . 49
Characters in the Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
I The Arts and Ways of a Good Life . . . . . . . . . . 52
Key Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
1. The Yellow Emperor Questions his Counsellor. . . . . . . . . 54
2. A Message from the Ancients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3. They Represented the Arts and Ways of Life . . . . . . . . . . 58
4. The Rhythm of the Seasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5. The Energy of the Yang Stored up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6. The Practice of Advancing the Yang. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
7. Taoist Yoga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
8. The Sages Treated those Well, not those Sick . . . . . . . . . . 75
9. The Character of the Malign Xie or Thief-Wind. . . . . . . . 76
Questions for Review of Chapter I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Characters in Chapter I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
II Yin and Yang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Key Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
1. Yin and Yang, the Way of the Skies and Earth. . . . . . . . . 81
2. Yin and Yang, Water, Fire, Qi and Flavours . . . . . . . . . 85
3. Left and Right as different as North and South . . . . . . . . 92
4. Yin and Yang in the Skies and Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
5. The Crucial Importance of the Yang Needing Rest. . . . . . . 97
Questions for Review of Chapter II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Characters in Chapter II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
III Examining the Colour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Key Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
1. Purity, Brightness, Colour and Complexion. . . . . . . . . . 102
2. The Bright-lit Hall, the Physiognomy of Face . . . . . . . . . 105
3. The Basis of Health in the Face. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Questions for Review of Chapter III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Characters in Chapter III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
IV The Quiet Pulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Key Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
1. The Method of the Pulse Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
2. If a Single Pulse Stands Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
3. The Primacy of the Pulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
4. In Attending to the Pulse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5. In Spring, the Pulse is in the Liver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
6. The Healthy, Sick and Fatal Pulses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
7. The Arrival of the Fatal Pulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
8. The Ultimate Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
9. A Common Fault in the Pulse Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Questions for Review of Chapter IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Characters in Chapter IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
V The Zangfu and Wuxing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Key Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
1. The Offices of the Zangfu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
2. The Zang and their Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
3. Directions and Elemental Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
4. Further Elemental Forms and Wuxing Science . . . . . . . . 159
5. The Faculties of the Self, and their Injuries . . . . . . . . . . 167
6. Physical Functions in Life and Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Questions for Review of Chapter V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Characters in Chapter V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
VI Channels and Collaterals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Key Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
1. The Form and Length of the Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Question for Review of Chapter VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Characters in Chapter VI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
VII Patterns of Treatment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Key Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
1. Yin and Yang, the Rule and Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
2. The Seed in Sickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194